Moulin Rouge 2900
by Mint Pearl Voice
Summary: "They call us the Diamond Fleet, and our symbiotes make us great..." Can the love between a jaded space pilot and an idealistic empath triumph over an evil alien's wiles? The year is 2900, and Lieutenant Officer Nini has a story to tell.
1. Chapter 1

They call us the Diamond Fleet, and our symbiotes make us great. You've got yours- I can tell. That little voice at the back of your brain, niggling away. I'm not telling you anything about how it works; don't expect any handholding from me.

Recruits. Ugh.

I'll tell you about who you're replacing, though. Now there was a fleet pilot! We called her the Sparkling Diamond, but her real name was Satine. She could steer a ship through the Asteriod Belt blindfolded- she was that good.

Of course, her symbiote did most of the work.

She had the Maharaja, and I was as surprised as anything. Did they try you out on it? Really? You? Hmph. Glad I was on the other side of that airlock.

Nasty little thing, isn't it. Like a fireball snipping at the corners of your thoughts.

When they brought in a street girl from Orbital Paris, I was as surprised as anything. She was beautiful, even then. Hair like Mars, comet-ice eyes… and the Maharaja always likes the pretty ones. It kept her safe, in its own way. Once, it steered her ship into the middle of an enemy passenger fleet- passenger fleet, mind you- took over her brain, and blasted its way out. Killed everyone, even the kids. Of course, Satine acted all nonchalant, but you could hear her crying in the corridors when she thought no one was listening, the Maharaja telling her to shut the hell up- "Silence, despicable child."

Things went on like that for months, years. Until Satine got herself in over her pretty little head.

She crashed on Montmorvia. And, well… you know what happens to beautiful girls on Montmorvia. They made her a sex slave. Chained her to a bed. One horny Mordovian man after another, all day long.

Of course she could have escaped, idiot. But the Maharaja wouldn't let her. It wanted to break her, to turn her into a more obedient host.

The hell it did! Haven't you ever heard the saying "You can't scratch a diamond?" It's practically our motto- that and "Don't have sex with anything if you can't figure out what species it is."

But… it came pretty damn close.


	2. Chapter 2

So, where were we? Oh, right.

Finally, Satine escaped and piloted her ship back. Sang to herself the whole way to keep the Maharaja out of her thoughts- you could hear her over the communications system. Gave me chills, it did.

Satine staggered into the landing bay, pale as anything. Bruises speckled her arms. We thought she was done for.

No such luck. After all, the Sparkling Diamond isn't an ordinary member of the Diamond Fleet. She can't die.

Jealous? Me? Naaah.

But, anyway, Zidler- as in, Commander Zidler- called in a psionic healer from the galaxy of Bohemia. An empath.

They're all half-crazed there. Most of the plants are natural hallucinogens, and you can't walk five steps without as many artists begging you to sit for a portrait. They sit in sidewalk cafes all day, playing harps and discussing the meaning of life. Dunno where the hell they get all the sidewalks from.

Anyway, the healer's name was Christian. Bit of a sap, if you ask me, but he was just what Satine needed. She was so worn out from fighting with the Maharaja, she didn't even want to get out of bed. Christian tried to get into her mind, so he could heal her- but she'd closed herself off completely.

So he sang. Even an asteroid would've listened to a voice like that.

He invented poems about the celing fan and the orbital potatoes in the cafeteria, making them sound like the most wonderful things in the world. Afterwards, Satine told us that it was as if she'd been wandering through an endless field of gray clover, and his voice brought her back. From the moment she opened her eyes, they were inseparable.

You can guess how the Maharaja felt about that!


	3. Chapter 3

Because Satine's mind had gotten stronger, and because she was in love, the Maharaja didn't have full acess to her mental energy anymore- and it was a jealous little bastard to boot.

If it couldn't have her mind, it'd just take the rest of her. It ate away at the insides of her lungs. She got sick. Sicker. Coughed up blood in the centrifuge- even I felt sorry for the janitorial staff. And all the while, the Maharaja was telling her, "This is for your own good. Focus on your career- let the boy go."

Finally, Satine decided to listen to good advice. She turned Christian out of her bedroom and volunteered for an assignment to fly destroyer in a combat zone- very high-profile, very dangerous. He was making sad puppy eyes all over the station, but she went nearly three days without coughing once. But when it was time for the mission, guess who went aboard as a combat journalist?

Right. The bloody empathy.

So they're flying into the combat zone, both miserable as hell, Satine just about throwing up whenever she looks at him-

And, fwoom! Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ship. A bomb had hit, and the rooms filled with black smoke.

Let me take control, the Maharaja whispered. I'll get you both out.

So Satine turned over her mind, and the symbiote led her through the twisting corridors that slashed through the large ship's interior.

The next thing she knew, she stood before the two escape pods, one of which had already been launched.

"Christian is safe?" she asked.

"Of course." The Maharaja's voice was as smooth as a leopard's pelt.

Just then, a voice cut through the smoke. "Never knew I could feel like this, like I'd never seen the sky before…" …well, I'm more of a dancer than a singer, but you get the idea, or at least you should. But it was Christian's voice, and Satine knew that the Maharaja had lied to her.

The Maharaja spouted all kinds of threats. It said it would leave her forever if she went to rescue Christian, perhaps even leave her as a corpse. Her career would end forever, her body would be ruined, and she'd regret the decision for the rest of her life.

Get in the escape pod right now or else, basically.

She turned around and ran back into the smoke.

Christian? Well, of course he lived. Haven't you seen his new play? It just premiered. No, I forgot- you're not a full Diamond yet. You don't get complimentary tickets to anything.

What do you mean, what about Satine? Weren't you listening? …I didn't? Oh. Well, I'll tell you now. The Maharaja's sudden departure shocked her brain. She spent two months in a coma. At first everyone agreed she'd be better off dead, what with the scar across that lovely face and her lungs smashed in and all.

Christian still loved her.

The smoke damaged Satine's eyes. She's nearly blind now, but she lives in a world of song, and I'm told that that poet of hers hardly ever leaves her side. They're so in love, it could make you sick. Good riddance, I say. Enjoy your honeymoon and don't try to show me your vacation photos.

So that's why Commander Zidler's so desperate for new recruits. After all, he's just lost his best pilot- he'll hire any pretty young thing off the Neo-Parisian streets. This is your ship; this is the on button. Forget your seatbelt and you'll wish you'd remembered it.

Welcome to the Diamonds. Try not to get killed.


End file.
